Latest / The Monégasque Table / Can You Store Edible Glitter in the Fridge? No, and Here's Why
Transcript
- Dana: I put my glitter in the fridge. Because that's where I put everything I'm scared of wasting. Cheese, batteries, the good chocolate, and a $14.99 jar of shimmer. Margaux: Welcome to The Monégasque Table. This is Ask the Table, and today's question is one word away from being a good idea: can you store edible glitter in the fridge? Dana: Please say yes, because I already did. Margaux: Here's the answer up front: no. The category storage guidance answers this exact question and the answer is a flat no — a fridge introduces condensation the moment the container comes out, and condensation is moisture, and moisture is the one thing that clumps this powder. A cool, dry cupboard away from heat is the right place. The fridge is the one place that reliably makes things worse. Dana: But it's cold in there. Cold is good. Cold is why I put the chocolate there. And it's a $14.99 jar with 100 drinks in it — I'm not risking that on a shelf. Margaux: Cold isn't the problem. Cold meeting warm is. Take a cold glass out of the fridge into a warm kitchen and it fogs — that's water in the room air landing on a cold surface. Now do that to a jar of powder. The jar fogs on the outside, and the second you open it, the air rushing in fogs the inside too. Every time you fetch it, a little water lands in the jar. The chocolate guides say the same thing about a dusted finish: refrigerated chocolate carries condensation that ruins it. Same water, different disguise. Dana: Then where? Give me a number, because "cool, dry cupboard" is what people say when they don't have a number. Margaux: There is a number. The storage guidance is roughly 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, under 60 percent humidity, away from heat and away from steam — so not above the stove, not beside the kettle, not over the dishwasher. Airtight, and ideally opaque. And a dry spoon every time; never a damp finger in the jar. Dana: My round, and it's the only one I need. My kitchen is hotter than 20 degrees for 3 months of the year. Every kitchen with an oven in it is. So your number is a fantasy and the fridge is the only cold thing I own. Margaux: That's the round you win, so here's the honest version of the number: it's a target, not a rule. The cupboard farthest from the oven in July is warmer than 20 degrees, and it's still a better home than the fridge, because warm-and-dry is a mild problem and cold-then-wet is the whole problem. The mineral doesn't spoil the way food spoils — the safety data sheet describes it as chemically stable and almost insoluble in water, and the mineral underneath melts around 3000 degrees Celsius, so warm is not what hurts it. What ruins it is water on the powder, and the fridge is a machine for putting water on the powder. Dana: So the summer answer is "the least bad cupboard." Margaux: The least bad cupboard, sealed tight, opened rarely. And the date printed on the package is your real guide — this show has said before that we won't quote you a shelf life, because our own documents disagree with each other, so read the jar. Dana: Who should skip it? Margaux: 2 skips. If the only cool place you own is a damp basement or a garage, don't store the jar there either — damp beats cool. Buy the small jar and use it up. And if the jar has already lived in the fridge for a month and it's clumped, don't keep it on principle — a clumped jar is a moisture jar, and half of one is about $7.50 of lesson. Dana: Dana's Scorecard. I came in with a jar next to the cheese. Where I landed. One: not the fridge, because cold-then-warm puts water in the jar every time I open it. Two: the target is 15 to 20 degrees and under 60 percent humidity, and in July the honest answer is the cupboard farthest from the oven — that's the round I won. Three: the mineral doesn't go off, it clumps, so the only enemy is water. Four: the date on the jar is the guide. My caveat: I'm moving the chocolate too. Margaux: Kept. The footnote: the MONÉGASQUE Iridescent Butterfly 10 gram jar — our most popular celebration shade — is on Amazon at $14.99, about 100 drinks at the printed serving of 0.1 grams, in a line of 21 shades, and it's the one that most often gets bought for a first try. Dana: Next time, a thing that starts warm and ends in a box. How do you put edible glitter on cake pops, and what does it cost for a batch? Margaux: The coating does the work, and the cost is the part nobody has measured — so we'll show you how to. One note before we go — this show is produced by the team at Monégasque, with AI-crafted hosts, and every number you heard was checked by humans against the documents. See you at the table.